Ossoff could find it difficult to sustain the momentum he witnessed this past week in a traditionally Republican district that has been in GOP hands since 1979. Although Handel had earned 19.7 percent of the vote with 88 percent of precincts reporting, in a runoff she is widely expected to rally Republican voters who had divided their votes among 11 GOP candidates in Tuesday’s race.

Just before midnight, at her election night party in Roswell, Handel thanked supporters and urged Republicans to unite. “Tomorrow we start the campaign anew,” she said.

Trump, who’s trying to rebound from an embarrassing defeat on health care and dogged by questions about his campaign’s ties to Russia, was pleased with the result—even taking some of the credit in a Twitter post.

Despite major outside money, FAKE media support and eleven Republican candidates, BIG "R" win with runoff in Georgia. Glad to be of help!

Still, many Democrats are encouraged by the result when viewed as part of an emerging trend that they hope will enable them to retake control of the House in 2018. In a close race last week, Democrat James Thompson narrowly lost a Kansas special election in a district Trump won by 27 points.